MOSCOW, December 3. /TASS/. Chairman of the Russian Federation Council (upper house) Committee on Foreign Affairs Konstantin Kosachev expressed bewilderment at the reason why a number of countries did not participate in the Wednesday UN Security Council meeting on settlement in Donbass. He added that to hear opinions of all members of the Security Council is an obligation, not a right.
The statement by the US, the UK and Estonia, published on the website of the US Mission to the UN, claimed that the discussion of the situation in eastern Ukraine with the participation of the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass was "a transparent attempt to present a false and misleading narrative," adding that this event "served Russian interests alone."
"Alas, neither the official Kiev, nor its Western benefactors took part in the discussion," Kosachev wrote in a Facebook post. "The way they justified their absence is bewildering. […] The alternative information coming from one side of the conflict is declared false in advance by those, who support its other side. This is a refined Euro-Atlantic approach to the freedom of discussion and pluralism of opinions: you have a right to say anything, but only if it matches our and the only right point of view."
He underscored that the representatives of southeastern Ukraine, who spoke in the UN earlier, have their own opinion and have a right to express it.
"And to listen to it is a direct obligation, not a right, of all UN Security Council members, without exceptions. Including the proud and independent Estonia," the senator noted.
Kosachev compared this situation with the Soviet period, where, similarly, "a declared, but never implemented principle of the freedom of speech, conscience and beliefs was in place."
"Alas, the Euro-Atlantists, with their slogans, as beautiful as those of the Bolsheviks, are now much closer to the 1984 picture of the world, described by British writer George Orwell in his masterful dystopia, than the rest of the world. Yet the West would have done better to contemplate on the idea of their other compatriot, French diplomat Talleyrand, who said: ‘I forgive those who do not adhere to my point of view, but I cannot forgive those who do not adhere to their own’," the chairman added.
About the meeting
The UN Security Council Arria-formula informal meeting was organized on Russia’s initiative. It took place in the video format Wednesday.
Previously, representatives of Ukraine, France and Germany sought to block the meeting and refused to participate in it. However, the event sparked interest of many UN member states. In particular, the meeting was attended by the representatives of China, Indonesia, Niger, Dominican Republic, Belarus, Morocco, Egypt, India, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Vietnam, Syria, South Africa, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vanuatu, Algeria and Tunisia.